The invention belongs to the field of catalyst synthesis, and particularly relates to a preparation method and an application of a catalyst for visbreaking behavior of heavy oil by aquathermolysis. The method comprises specific steps as follows: ferric chloride is weighed and added to a three-neck beaker, ethanol, water, n-hexane and oleic acid are added to the three-neck beaker in sequence, magnetic stirring is performed, NaOH is added, heating and reflux condensation are performed, after a ferric oleate compound and an oleic acid mixture are synthesized and added to sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, a mixture is dissolved in octyl ether, 1-octadecene or 1-eicosylene, a mixed solution is subjected to temperature programming and then cooled to the room temperature, ethanol is added to the solution, centrifugal separation is performed, and the target product, namely, the catalyst for visbreaking behavior of the heavy oil by aquathermolysis is obtained. The target product is cheap and easily available and has low energy consumption and excellent visbreaking effect, and physical properties and nanoscale can be set by selecting correct reaction temperature, reaction solvent or reaction time.